GOL Airlines completes flight with Amyris-Total aviation biofuel

By Amyris Inc. | July 31, 2014

On July 31, Amyris Inc. partnered with Brazilian airline, GOL, to fly the industry’s first commercial flight with farnesane, the recently approved renewable jet fuel. The first flight, GOL flight 7725, departed from Orlando, Florida, on July 30, 2014 at 5:15 PM ET and traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Earlier this month, GOL committed to fly its Boeing 737 fleet with up to a 10 percent blend of the renewable farnesane fuel starting with this initial flight on July 30, 2014. Farnesane can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 80 percent compared to petroleum fuels. When blended with Jet A/A1 fuel at 10 percent, farnesane can also reduce particulate matter emissions, decreasing pollution near airports and major metropolitan areas.

The global aviation industry has committed to aggressive goals to reduce its GHG emissions, including achieving carbon neutral growth by 2020 and reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2005. In addition to improving the efficiency of airplanes and flight operations, this renewable biofuel represents a major opportunity for commercial aviation to reduce emissions. The approved renewable jet fuel is drop-in and can be blended directly with petroleum jet fuel without any changes to airplanes, engines or fueling infrastructure. Amyris will now begin to quantitatively measure the positive impact to GHG emissions and air quality with every flight using the renewable jet fuel.

Watch this video footage of the refueling using the Amyris-Total renewable jet fuel, departure of the flight and photography of the aircraft.